OUR FIRST ENDURO!!!
They say "Never go Full Enduro (Bro)" and now that makes so much more sense.
What a riot! Jena and I will always love trail riding and XC racing, but we'll definitely be signing up for a few more enduros this season and for years to come.
DYLAN'S TAKE:
This event was exactly what I was hoping for. Making new friends, shredding down new, amazing trails, building my skillset and seeing what all the hype is about. It was so fun getting to chat it up with really good people, do some trailside camping, push my Slayer harder than I have before and climb at a regular pace instead of always hammering my ass off like I do in XC. Gondolas and chairlifts?!?! Sure, why not!
My racing goals were simple: Go as fast as I could without crashing, and/or injuring myself. This was just a fun race with no pressure to do well, and it was awesome. I rode strong and finished in 10th of 26 guys in my category (Expert 30-39). I was happy with my consistency and it helped my realize some of my strengths and weaknesses. All in all, this was a wicked event and I know we're both really excited to enter more of these in the future.
What a riot! Jena and I will always love trail riding and XC racing, but we'll definitely be signing up for a few more enduros this season and for years to come.
We just may have caught the Enduro bug while racing the North American Enduro Cup held at Silver Mountain Bike Park just outside of Kellogg, Idaho.
ABOUT
THE RACE: 8,223 ft. of climbing, 16,026 ft. of descending, 75km of
pedaling! The 9 stages covered the most epic and diverse terrain
possible. From loose shale motocross tracks, to jumps of every kind,
drops (from 5 to 10 feet), berms, chunky rock, rock faces, wide open
sections, tight-twisty sections and literally brand new trail.
JENA'S TAKE:
I
took the win in the Expert women's category by roughly 9.5 minutes,
which would have placed me 9th amongst the pro's (25 seconds off 8th).
Some of the best male and female enduro athletes in North America were
here, since this race was a "Enduro World Series" qualifier. So, without
knowing what the heck I was doing out there, I was hesitant to dive
right in to the mix. Next time however, you will see my name in results
amongst "Pro Women."
My total race time clocked in at 1:02:05. Shortest stage for me was 2:49 (Stage 4) and the longest 15:58
(Stage 10). ON A PERSEVERANCE NOTE: Friday night, I ate some shrimp
brought from home and got incredibly sick; I slept about 1 hour prior to
waking up with severe nausea and intestinal-stomach pain that had me
cringing and crying the remainder of the night. I did my best to remain
calm throughout, but was of course very fearful that I was not going to
be able to compete. At 6am,
about 4 cups of coffee later, I had released enough pain to consume
food again. Somehow, I made it to the start and finished 2,800 feet of
climbing and 6 stages of descending. It truly is amazing what the mind
and body can do when they need to!
DYLAN'S TAKE:
This event was exactly what I was hoping for. Making new friends, shredding down new, amazing trails, building my skillset and seeing what all the hype is about. It was so fun getting to chat it up with really good people, do some trailside camping, push my Slayer harder than I have before and climb at a regular pace instead of always hammering my ass off like I do in XC. Gondolas and chairlifts?!?! Sure, why not!
My racing goals were simple: Go as fast as I could without crashing, and/or injuring myself. This was just a fun race with no pressure to do well, and it was awesome. I rode strong and finished in 10th of 26 guys in my category (Expert 30-39). I was happy with my consistency and it helped my realize some of my strengths and weaknesses. All in all, this was a wicked event and I know we're both really excited to enter more of these in the future.
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